HaPpY HaLlOwEeN!!

Taylor wanted to be Anakin Skywalker again. Done. The costume is still big on him.



Bennett wanted to be a vampire. We already had a vampire cape, so I went out and bought 4 bucks worth of makeup and black hairspray.



I left Bennett's eyes red. It seemed appropriate for the costume.



Owen kept insisting that he wanted to wear our ratty old Batman costume that he wears all the time. That thing has so many holes, it is practically indecent to wear in public. I even drove to the store to find him a cowboy hat hoping I could convince him to wear something else. He still insisted on Batman. This afternoon I pulled out his lion that he wore last year. I told him it was scary and he was sold.







Bennett and Owen wolfing down pixie sticks so fast they ate the outer paper as well.



Taylor stuffing his mouth as fast as he can.



I'm thinking tomorrow I will just let them gorge themselves on their candy and be done with it. Then I don't have to listen to them beg me for more.

enjoying it while it lasts

3 boys. Willingly and happily helping me shovel mulch. Very nice.



The downside? The poo-smelling mulch always makes its way into my house and onto my newly cleaned carpet.




And on a different note, we received this humongous Halloween gift basket from our neighbor today filled with everything imaginable. Don't know why, but we will enjoy it all the same.

when will it end?

The other day I went through my house with my magic eraser and cleaned my walls. I am not lying when I say that there was some sort of scribble on EVERY single wall that I washed, minus about two. That little Owen has been my worst when it comes to writing where he shouldn't. I know part of it is because I can't watch him as closely, but another part is that it is just what he does. He is naughty.

About 6 months ago, after viewing a rather elaborate painting project that Owen created on my walls, my mom asked me why I just don't put the crayons and markers out of reach. If only it were that simple. I would literally have to lock up everything that he could use to write, scribble, smudge, or smear on my walls. That would be impossible. I am very confident that he would use his own blood or anything else that comes out of his body if he had to. I will let you imagine what that could be.

Case in point. Deodorant and mascara that he has smeared on my shower door. He is even upping the naughtiness by combining multiple products. I am hoping this phase will end soon.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry

Have your ever found yourself arguing with your kids over completely ridiculous topics? I have found myself doing this way too many times to count. Here is the most recent example.

Last night I had to pick up Taylor from Tae Kwon Do. Scott was gone with the Scouts and wouldn't be home until late, so I had to take all of the kids with me to get him and bring him home. His class doesn't get out until 8:30, so by the time we got home I had 2 kids (Bennett and Owen) that were an hour past their bedtime. That was my first mistake.

I get inside and start on their bedtime routine. I realize their pillows are not on their beds, so I send Bennett to find them. He brings them back and I throw one pillow on each bed. Bennett comes into the room and throws a fit because Owen has his pillow. Supposedly his is the one with the striped pillowcase and Owen has the white one. Fine. So I swap the pillows. Owen then somehow senses that the striped pillow is better than the white one starts throwing a fit saying that it is his pillow.

Now I'm in a predicament. Both of them are having breakdowns over this stupid pillow and I can't remember whose pillow it actually is. After looking at the situation, I opt for giving the pillow to Owen thinking that I can "reason" with Bennett, the older one about the sameness of the pillows. He can be the big brother that gives this pillow to Owen. That would be my second mistake.

I repeat these 6 sentences about 50 times. Each time my voice gets louder and louder. I am no longer using my inside voice. I am as close to yelling without yelling as one can be. I stubbornly or more truthfully stupidly persist with my arguing.

Bennett they are the SAME pillow!
There is NOTHING DIFFERENT!
It is JUST A PILLOWCASE!
YOU CAN'T TELL THE DIFFERENCE!
THIS IS RIDICULOUS BENNETT, IT IS JUST A PILLOW!
I'M NOT GOING TO DO THIS TONIGHT!

Bennett not only completely ignores my perfect reasoning he counters with his own. He is just as stubborn and persistent as me. I hate that.

I hate that pillow!
It is lumpy!
It feels funny!
I don't like the white one!
That striped one is mine!

Meanwhile Owen is on his bed with his head on the coveted striped pillow hoping that he can have it.

I threaten no pillow at all. I offer another colored pillowcase. He responds with more screaming. He won't stay in his bed or his room. You would think that I was forcing him to sleep on a pillow full of needles.

Then I have a completely dumb idea that I think at the time is completely brilliant. I take the striped pillow from Owen take the case off and replace it with a white one. Now I have 2 identical pillows and pillowcases. A HA! They won't be able to argue about which one is the better one. I am practically patting myself on the back because I am so smart. That would be my third mistake.

Both of them get out of their beds and have full blown, all out tantrums. Not only are they mad about the loss of the perfect striped pillowcase they are mad because they can't tell the good pillow from the one filled with needles.

What does one do at this point? For one second my mind clears and I see how ridiculous this is. A grown adult arguing over pillowcases with 2 kids. I let out one laugh and then immediately get all grumpy again because my brilliant plan did not work.

Finally I just give up in a sense, leave them crying in their beds and I go and cool off in front of the TV. Not my best parenting moment.

I'm thinking Bennett and Owen weren't the only ones tired that night.

Day in the Life - - Day 7 Tuesday 21st

The boys playing in their clubhouse (ie closet).



Chase is feeling much better today. No more fever thank goodness.



I took a few minutes today and organized my linen and bedroom closet.



Owen working on his circles again.



4 or 5 days ago, Bennett was asking me why we didn't have any Halloween decorations out. My reply is that we just don't have any. For some reason whenever I look at Halloween decorations I never like any of them. But, I am a sucker for Fall decorations and I usually buy something every year.

A few days ago I was telling Scott that I need to buy some Halloween decorations when they go on clearance. This afternoon I was organizing my closet and what did I find? A bag with some really big spider webs that I bought last year on clearance at Target! I had totally forgotten about them. So I put them up before the boys got home from school. Halloween decorations. Done.



And these would be my spider webs that are not fake. Can I call these decorations and not just a light I haven't cleaned .... ever.



More Fall decorations turned into Halloween decorations.



I always foolishly try and think of what my boys are going to do and then make rules before they can do it. The problem is, my mind doesn't work like little boys, so I can never predict what they are going to do. This is exactly what happened today. As soon as the boys came home I told them they were not allowed to touch the spider web, pull on the spider web or take the spiders off the web. I told them that I would be able to tell if they did anything to it.

I thought I had covered anything that they could do to to the web. I was wrong. Within 1 hour of them getting home from school they started throwing stuff at the web and lo and behold it would stick! So what do we have in our web right now? Lincoln logs and post it notes. I had never even thought about that. So I had to make a new rule about not throwing stuff in the web. I'm guessing the web will be down within 2 days. It is way too tempting.



Marker yet again on his face. He is upset because I am making him clean up the marker that is on the floor. He writes on something other than paper, he cleans it up.



There are many things you can do with a Bumbo.
How about as a time out chair when you are caught hitting your brother?



Or how about a headpiece? Look familiar Kari W.?



We were planning on taking the boys up the canyon this afternoon but due to the chilly winds we decided to cook dinner in our Chimenea instead.





S'mores for dessert.



Talking it up.



Notice the silicone bracelet on Taylor's arm? Taylor loves to wear these bracelets there because that is where football players wear those black bands. Too funny. He is all about football right now.



I spent a few minutes this afternoon downloading some comedy by Jim Gaffigan. We listened to it at our friend's house the other day and it was pretty funny. My favorite clip is about Hot Pockets.
Watch it, I promise you will laugh out loud!




First I want to thank Kari w. for giving me this idea in the first place. I am glad I did it and I am glad it is done. By doing this I noticed a few things about my life. 1. I wear my hair up an awful lot. 2. My boys make my life quite interesting. They keep me on my toes, make me laugh and make me um... not laugh. 3. I need to be more aware of the little things that go on around here and document them.

Thank you to those who did this with me. I have loved taking a peek into what other people do during their day. Till next time....

Day in the Life - - Day 6 Monday 20th

I really debated posting this pix of me because obviously I look like complete crap. But vowing I wasn't going to sugar coat my life this week I decided to post it anyways. This is what I looked and felt like this morning. Tired and ornery. Chase was up half the night last night and consequently so was I. He had a fever and would not settle down. So needless to say I was and am pretty tired.



This is the little man that gave me grief last night. He likes to sit in his Bumbo and watch me work in the kitchen.



This is what my kids were doing when I dragged myself out of bed this morning.
I do remember them asking Scott permission before they turned on the TV. That is good.



Owen playing with Lincoln Logs in his favorite Batman suit.



Poor Owen, I often find him scratching. He has eczema pretty bad.



This is the stuff we use to try and keep Owen's itching to a minimum.



We got some toy catalogs in the mail today. The boys were immediately picking out stuff they wanted me to buy them.



Where is Ben Ben going? Who knows. It was this guy whom I caught encouraging his friend to pee in our yard today. Isn't there a rule about that?



I went outside and threw the football with Taylor for awhile.

Taylor: Mom are you letting it roll off your hand?
Mom: Uh... no
Taylor: That's why we are out here is to help you learn how to throw.



I put Chase in his bouncer outside while I was throwing the football with Taylor. I thought it might be too cold for him so I grabbed Owen's jacket in the kitchen and wrapped him in it. I was too lazy to walk up the stairs and get a blanket.



Again, marker where it doesn't belong.



We have a ton of Butternut squash from our garden. Today I experimented and tried making butternut fries. Anything is good cooked in olive oil and salt right? They were actually pretty good and my kids even ate them. Of course I didn't tell them what kind of fries they were.



Only 4 loads of laundry today. I am still working on folding them and putting them away.



Bad Scott! Doesn't he know that I will wolf down an entire pan of Rice Krispie Treats all by myself!



Helping Bennett with his homework. Owen decided he needed to work on his homework, so he sat in my lap and drew circles on paper. He sang his own version of the ABC song mixed with Old McDonald. He called his circles dinosaur bones.



Owen's dinosaur bones.



This is a video clip of Owen singing his song. Please ignore me!

Day in the Life - - Day 5 Sunday 19th

The boys starting their morning off with a wrestling match. They prefer wrestling in their underwear.



Taylor making his Sunday morning muffins. Man that kid is skinny!



Chase after a shower with Scott. Sometimes he likes them and sometimes he doesn't.



Me deciding to keep Chase home from church because of his fever last night.



The boys hurriedly building something small to take to sacrament meeting.



Scott getting the diaper bag ready for church. We got each of the boys their own clipboard with blank paper to amuse themselves during sacrament. It works surprisingly well - for a minutes at least.



This is Taylor's official Sunday shirt. He always wears it on Sunday because I always tell him to put on something nice (something with no holes, rips or stains) when we go to family's house for dinner.



Owen getting a mid-afternoon bath. He decided to poop in his pants instead of in the toilet. I made him clean it up himself and he wasn't too successful. He kept telling me it was too hard and I reminded him that next time he just needs to poop in the toilet and he won't have to do this again. We shall see.



Bennett pretending to take a nap in our closet.



Does this need an explanation? I wonder how many diapers I have changed?



Our monthly dinner when 30 plus people descend on Mom and Dad Kimball's home. We alternate who is in charge of organizing and giving out assignments for the meal. This month we had chili, cornbread, apples with caramel dip and a green salad.



This month we played Halloween Bingo.





Scott chatting with someone about something.



Alexa and Victoria help Owen with his Bingo card. I'm not sure why he is pulling this funny face other than he his Owen and that's what he does.



"finger food"



Bennett pulling a face while climbing into bed.